


Resignation

by afictionado



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-23 04:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afictionado/pseuds/afictionado
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Their relationship, though fulfilling, always presented a risk on both sides. For her, it was the risk of losing her life. And for him, as long as she was around, he was at risk of losing his heart. (Season 2 AU - "Passion" never ruined everyone's lives.) [Orig. published: December 6, 2010]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resignation

*****

"Buffy, you're late," Giles commented without looking up from his book, listening to the sharp sounds of his Slayer's boots on the tile floor as she strode toward him.

"Giles, he's back."

"Who?" Looking up, he got to his feet at the solemnity in her features. "Angelus?" he breathed. "He's come after you again?"

"No." She shook her head. "Angel. He's back."

He furrowed his brows. "So his soul..."

Buffy nodded despite his trailing off, finishing the thought for him. "It's been restored."

"W-Well... how?" He sat down hard once more.

She planted her hands on her hips, still standing over him at the table near the mezzanine. "Miss Calendar," she shrugged. "She translated the curse to restore his soul and then performed the spell."

"What?" he whispered, heart skipping a beat at the mere name. Though he and Jenny had been so disconnected from each other over the past few weeks, she was never far from his mind. The last they'd spoken, she had some news she wished to share with him... something she seemed excited about... though she never had stopped by. At the time, he'd told himself it was for the best. The two of them becoming entangled was just... downright dangerous, really. For both of them.

Their relationship, though fulfilling, always presented a risk on both sides. For her, it was the risk of losing her life. And for him, as long as she was around, he was at risk of losing his heart. Something he wasn't certain he could afford to relinquish right now.

"Yeah." Buffy went on, not noticing his distraction. "I guess she'd been working on it ever since he changed."

His eyes frantically searched the air in front of him. Perhaps that had been her news? "News," he murmured without thought.

"News?" Buffy scrunched her face at him. "What about the news?"

"Ehm..." Coming back to himself, Giles shook his head. "N-Nothing, Buffy, nothing. Sorry. Go on. Um, how did you hear of this restoration spell?"

"I saw her, this afternoon, when she was packing up her classroom."

"I see," he nodded along. Then, after a few beats, what she'd said caught up with him, and he again stood up. "Beg pardon?"

"What?"

"She was packing up her office? Why?" He leaned his fists on the table, leaning slightly closer to Buffy and almost startling the girl.

Her eyes widened a bit and she leaned back as she replied uneasily, "I... thought you knew. She's quitting."

Giles felt the plummeting of his stomach a mere split-second before his feet started propelling him toward the library doors. He heard Buffy calling after him, asking him if they were going to train today, but he paid no attention, his vision having tunneled, the end of the tunnel leading to her classroom.

He found her at her desk, humming softly to herself as she placed a few items into a cardboard box -- a pencil cup and some paper weights, followed by her desk blotter. Her expression was soft and serene, if a bit sad, the corners of her full lips down turned just slightly. Giles cleared his throat softly and rapped his knuckles on the door frame, watching as she spun around, her long hair flying.

She blinked a moment, as if disbelieving he was standing there, before she gave him a soft smile. It reminded him very much of the first time he'd stopped by her classroom to see her. Then, as if remembering the current chasm between them, she let the smile fade and addressed him formally. "Mr. Giles. What brings you here?"

He dipped his head, figuring she was using formality since he'd practically slapped her in the face with it just a few weeks prior. "Miss Calendar," he returned softly, practically able to feel the distance between them like two hands keeping them pushed far apart. "I, ehm... had heard you were leaving."

Jenny twitched a knowing half-smile. "Buffy?"

"Yes." Glancing up, he met her eyes... searched them. "Where are you going?"

"Uh, Boston," she replied, looking away to place more items into the box. "There's an opening for a computer teacher at an elementary school out there, and," she shrugged one shoulder, making a face as she looked up and remarked, "I've never really been much of a West coast girl anyway, so..."

"So you're leaving." His world shattered just a bit further.

She nodded. "Yep. Turned in my resignation to Snyder, effective immediately. All my stuff's packed. I've just gotta get it in a moving van bright and early tomorrow and then start the long trek to the east coast."

"Why?" he asked, unable to think of anything more intelligible to say.

Jenny arched an eyebrow. "Why?" Then, she shrugged, tossing a few smaller items into the box. "I was sent here to keep an eye on Angel. He lost his soul, I restored it. And, now that your Slayer knows what'll happen if they get too, uh... 'close'... again, I trust she can control herself around him."

"Yes, well... one would hope." He giggled airily, giving a toothy grin. "You never can tell when dealing with the libido of a teenager and a, um... two-hundred-plus-year-old vampire." His smile faded slowly as he watched her for a beat or two, then murmured, "You can't leave."

"Why not, Rupert?" she asked abruptly, almost harshly, as she set something down hard in the box and turned to meet his eyes. She practically stared him down, a silent challenge in the browns. It was nearly intimidating.

Taken aback briefly at her tone and expression, Giles fumbled for words. "B-Because, of your... your career here at the school."

"Remember that letter of resignation thing?" she raised her brows once again. "The career part's taken care of."

"W-Well..." He began to say something else, thought better of it and closed his mouth again. Then, his mouth began to move over some thought process which inevitably failed when Jenny got fed up and sighed, grabbing for her cardboard box of belongings.

"Look, I should get going."

Giles felt his chest seizing with panic, and he was left with nothing to do other than to act on pure instinct. So he blocked the door. "Don't."

Jenny stopped in front of him with an exasperated sigh, shoulders slumping slightly as she tilted her head and gave him a look. "Come on, Rupert."

"You can't just leave," he reasoned, well aware that there was a note of desperation in his voice but not caring to mask it.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Why not? I'm done with what I came here to do, I've resigned from my position here at the school, and you've barely given me the time of day in the past few weeks." Dipping her head slightly, he heard her add almost in a whisper, "Even after I told you that I..." and she trailed off, shaking her head at herself and looking away.

Giles felt another pang to his heart. She was still hurt. And with good reason, he couldn't help but realize. She'd told him she had fallen in love with him and he'd been too stunned to say it back, even though he felt it with every bit of himself. "Jenny--"

"Can you think of any reason I should stay, Rupert?" she asked, searching his eyes.

Yes, he could think of a thousand, the one of utmost importance being that he couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her every day. He couldn't handle the thought that, if she left, they really and truly were over.

But apparently, he stalled too long, lost in his thoughts, and Jenny sighed softly again, nodding in confirmation. "I didn't think so," she murmured.

"No." He watched helplessly as she gently nudged him aside, his hands reaching for her, needing to hold on to her in some way. "Jenny..."

"Goodbye, Rupert." She gave him a soft smile and stretched up on her toes, the box held under one arm as she leaned up and pecked his cheek, quite near to the corner of his mouth. Pulling away, she met his eyes and ran his hand slowly down his tie. "I'll miss you."

Then, she brushed past him and was gone, leaving Giles to stare at her empty classroom.

 

*****

Giles returned to his flat, too dumbfounded by the turn his day had taken to concentrate on much else. He hadn't told Buffy, which he knew she'd make him pay for during their next hand-to-hand combat session. He'd simply driven home and locked his door, putting on a record as he poured himself a glass of scotch. And then another, all the while sitting in his worn, favorite chair staring into space and replaying every second he'd ever spent with Jenny... the wonderful moments and the painful ones.

He hissed slightly as one particular gulp of scotch burned his throat all the way down, cutting his head to the side and clenching his teeth, hand gripping the glass hard as he damned himself. Why hadn't he said anything? Anything at all, any sort of reason. Professing his love would have been a good place to start, but in the moment it had seemed too abrupt, even after her own declaration. The mere knowledge of her intent to leave Sunnydale had been information overload for him. Coherent speech was near impossible.

By the time he retired to his bedroom, he hadn't gotten nearly snockered enough. But still, he was exhausted, and collapsed on his back in his suit. He barely slept at all, taunted by images of Jenny and a life without her, until finally he pulled himself out of bed at dawn. He went straight to the basin in the bathroom and splashed water on his face, hands pressing into the porcelain as he stared at himself long and hard, wondering what Buffy would say of his cowardice.

He already saw her nose wrinkling in his mind's eye: _"So... that's it? You're just gonna let her go?"_

He shook his head at himself. "No," he murmured, eyes searching the air in front of him again. "I can't." He muttered to himself as he headed down the stairs and grabbed the keys to his old Citroen. "I can't let her go."

He drove to Jenny's in a trance, lost in thought as he wondered what he could say to get her to stay. Blurting out that he loved her and didn't wish to live without her still seemed a little too abrupt. But he needed to do _something_.

He pulled up alongside the curb, peering out the passenger-side window as he watched her emerge onto the porch, bringing a sealed cardboard box over to the moving van parked in her driveway and stuffing it inside before heading back through her open front door. Then, he cut the engine and jumped out, making his way up to her porch. "Jenny," he called.

She turned from closing her front door, another box balanced between her arms. She gave him a once-over, obviously noting he was still in the same clothes as the day before. "Wow. You certainly look like you've seen some better days, England."

His heart skipped at the pet-name she'd bestowed upon him so long ago, and he kept his steady pace toward her.

"Here to see me off?" she teased light-heartedly, though he noticed the slight shake in her voice. "You're just in time -- all the heavy lifting is taken care of."

Giles just stayed silent as he walked right up to her, until they would have been toe-to-toe if not for the box separating them, her exit blocked. Jenny sighed and rolled her eyes, moving the box to her hip. "We're not gonna play _this_ game again, are we?" she asked, indicating their positions.

Determination reached his eyes, and his voice, as he told her lowly, "You're not leaving."

One eyebrow pushed upward. "Y'know, I'd agree with you there, except for the part where I _am_ leaving. Right now, actually."

She shifted right to go around him and his arm suddenly shot out of its own volition, pressing against the doorframe, blocking her. She searched his eyes again.

"You're not leaving," he repeated, leveling her with his gaze.

Jenny just rolled her eyes, clearly non-plussed at his display as she shifted in the other direction, until his other arm shot out and pressed against the doorframe on her other side. He nearly smirked with Ripper-like satisfaction. He had her pinned.

Her teeth clenched at his audacity as she held her ground, giving him a sharp look through her lashes. "Get outta my way, Rupert."

"No."

" _Move!_ " She shoved at one shoulder, but he didn't tear his gaze from hers for a second.

"No."

Slowly raising her eyes to his, Jenny searched them, the look in the beautiful browns almost sad. Her voice was no longer hard, but almost borderline meek as she asked him helplessly, "Can't you just let me go?"

And Giles shook his head, "No. I can't," and removed one hand from the doorframe only long enough to tip her chin up with one finger as he swooped down to capture her lips.

There was not a moment's hesitation as Jenny returned his kiss, the box falling to her feet. Its contents spilled out on her porch but neither of them moved, fused together at the lips. Giles pressed his hand against the doorframe once more, almost balancing on it as he leaned against her while her arms slowly slid up his chest and wound around his neck. She sunk against the front door, pulling him with her and he moaned, his hands sliding across her hips.

They panted against each other's lips, Jenny's hands sliding down his chest until one grabbed a hold of his tie and the other reached behind her, sliding blindly over the door until she found the knob. Pushing it open behind her, she stumbled backward into the house and dragged him along by the necktie, their lips never ceasing to touch as they kept up their stream of hungry kisses. Giles pulled her close again, his lips bruising hers, as he kicked the door shut and they stumbled blindly around her entryway.

A mattress leaned up against the banister and Jenny bumped into it, knocking it back onto the floor with a thud and tumbling back with it, yelping against his lips. Giles went with her, lips still fused as they crashed together on the bare mattress, chuckling against each other's mouths and refusing to break the kiss. Jenny kissed him heatedly, nudging him up onto his knees as she sat up and shoved at his tweed suit coat. He, in turn, pushed her leather jacket off her shoulders and deepened the kiss as they each finished shaking off the confining articles.

Then, his hands were on her hips again and he was lowering her back onto the mattress, that first scorching kiss still not breaking. "Jenny," he mumbled against her, breathing heavily with arousal. "You need to... to stop me."

She shook her head against him, kissing him harder. "No," she mumbled into the kiss. "Don't want you to stop."

He moaned and slanted his lips over hers while her fingers deftly unbuttoned his shirt. Then, Giles resolved to turn off his thoughts for awhile as he unbuttoned her jeans.

**

When he awoke, his entire body was sore. He laid on his stomach on the bare mattress, one arm thrown across Jenny's stomach as she laid beside him on her back, their discarded clothing covering them haphazardly as makeshift blankets. He felt her shifting beside him and he closed his eyes, kissing along her bare shoulder and up to her neck. She sighed contentedly and tilted her head toward him, her arm covering his across her abdomen.

"Did I remember to tell you that I'm madly in love with you?" he mumbled against her skin, kissing her collarbone.

Jenny hummed a chuckle, eyes still closed as she tickled her fingertips up his forearm. "Once before, and twice during."

"Ah. Good then." He laid his head on her shoulder, lifting it up to peek at her when he felt her staring at him.

She smiled softly, murmuring, "Say it again."

Giles smiled, propping himself up on one elbow as he leaned over her, kissing her thoroughly. "I'm completely in love with you, Jenny."

Their lips parted and hers grew into a smile, her eyes watching the motion of her thumb as it traipsed across his bottom lip. "I'm in love with you too. Crazy, stupid in love." Sighing, she met his eyes and shook her head. "I didn't wanna leave."

He ran his fingers through her tousled hair, fanned against the mattress. "I didn't want you to leave."

She gave him a wry look. "And you couldn't have said that _before_ I packed up my whole life? Way to wait until the last second there, England."

Giles laughed at that, leaning over to give her another kiss.

 

**FIN**


End file.
